Papal Prospect Marc Ouellet’s Brother Has Sex Abuse Convictions

As Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet awaits the vote that will determine the Catholic Church’s next pope, his family back home in La Motte, Quebec are dodging questions about the sex abuse convictions of younger son, Paul.

In 2009, Paul Ouellet was found guilty of the sexual abuse of two underage girls during the 1980s, when the girls were 13 and 14-years-old. Paul pleaded guilty to having improper sexual relationships with the girls when he was in his late 30s and early 40s.

For these crimes, he was sentenced to 15 months of community detention.

In an effort to make amends, shortly after his conviction Paul took out an ad in a local paper, ostensibly to apologize to those he harmed. In it he wrote:

[I am guilty of] accepting the advances of these young people. I bitterly regret the way they now look back on the bonds we had and I regret, evidently, the hurt that I caused them unintentionally.

The now 67-year-old Paul formerly worked as an artist and teacher of children with learning difficulties.

He still lives in the small Quebec town where he and his brother Marc grew up in La Motte.

His family, awaiting news of the selection of the next pope, has refused to comment on either older brother Marc’s chances, or Paul’s sex crimes.